6 Signs of Ukraine’s Defeat, from Desertion to Low Morale

MOSCOW – Dima never puts out a cigarette until he has smoked it all the way to the filter, risking burning his fingers to take another drag. He spent years on the Ukrainian front. He knows the price of a good cigarette.

As battalion commander, Dima led some 800 men who fought in some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the war – most recently near Pokrovsk, a strategic city in the east that is now on the verge of falling to the Russia .

But with most of his troops now dead or badly injured, Dima decided he had had enough. He quit and took another job in the military – in an office in Kyiv.

Standing outside the office, smoking a cigarette and drinking sweet coffee, he told CNN he could no longer bear to see his men die.

6 Signs of Ukraine’s Defeat, from Desertion to Low Morale

1. Many Ukrainian Soldiers Are Exhausted

Photo/AP

Two and a half years of grueling Russian attacks have devastated many Ukrainian units. Reinforcements have been few and far between, leaving some soldiers exhausted and demoralized. The situation is particularly dire among infantry units near Pokrovsk and elsewhere on the eastern front, where Ukrainians are struggling to halt the creeping Russian advance.

CNN spoke to six commanders and officers who are currently or recently fighting or overseeing units in the area. All six said desertion and insubordination are widespread problems, especially among new recruits.

Four of the six people, including Dima, have asked that their names be changed or withheld because the topic is sensitive and because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

“Not all mobilized soldiers left their positions, but the majority did. When new people come here, they see how difficult it is. They see a lot of enemy drones, artillery and mortars,” a commander of a unit currently fighting in Pokrovsk told CNN. He also asked not to be named.

“They go to that position once and if they survive, they never come back. They either abandon their positions, refuse to fight, or try to find a way to leave the army,” he added.

2. Soldiers Forced to Go to War

Photo/AP

Unlike those who volunteered at the start of the war, many new recruits had no choice in entering the conflict. They were called up after Ukraine’s new mobilization law went into effect in the spring and could not legally leave until after the government enacted demobilization, unless they received special permission to do so.